In the deployment of large scale content broadcasting, poor or unsatisfactory data reception caused by interference factors in the path of the transmitting data between a transmitter and a receiver is a usual issue. This concern is applicable to both analog and digital signals, including the digital television transmission (DTV) formats such as the recently available high definition television (HDTV) and standard definition television (SDTV) having technical standards established by the American Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an international organization.
Broadcast systems traditionally transmit data in one direction from a server system to a plurality of client systems. Consumers of the client systems typically receive the signals from the server system as they are broadcast. Currently, error correction practices are utilized that increase the reliability of the reception of transmitted data including forward error correction (FEC) techniques and carouselling (retransmission of the same data), convolutional (tree) codes and block codes. FEC, however, is not useful with analog communications because the degradation of analog signals cannot be effectively corrected. Often these various error correction techniques are employed to handle transmission errors but show unsatisfactory results since there are often a myriad of data transmission interference factors. Some interference factors are regional such as terrain existing along the path of the data transmission, and other factors are dynamic based on environmental factors including weather and season. Retransmission factors are a further consideration such that data can be transmitted to many locations, each having different regional and dynamic factors. For example, satellite communications systems use orbiting satellites as radio repeaters to relay signals between earth stations. Most telecommunications satellites in use today are in geostationary orbit about 22,300 miles above the equator. Satellite systems can be used for one-way, two-way, point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission of various types of signals, including voice, data and video. Further, interference can occur in the up-link transmission from earth station to satellite, or in the down-link from satellite to earth.
Currently, there is a need for control and optimization of bandwidth and Quality of Service (QOS) of a given broadcast based on regional factors including terrain, and transient conditions including weather that effect the level of service to the end client (i.e. the receiver). QOS is currently a significant concern for continuous transmission of high-bandwidth video and multimedia information.